I discovered the music of Maui-born Anuhea quite by accident. Shortly before Renata and I traveled to Hawaii, I started listening to a Hawaiian 105 KINE, a Honolulu radio station to get the place’s vibe, and one song made me smile whenever it was on their playlist. The song’s name was “Forever Summer,” a duet between Anuhea and Justin Young in which they sang about how it was always warm in the company of their significant other even if the weather was less than formidable.

As someone who used to live in a tropical land and now has to face the reality of snow storms and a very short summer, I got the meaning behind the words, and started paying attention to the artist. I eventually got to know other tunes in her repertoire and ‘liked’ her page on Facebook, making a mental note to catch her live if she ever came to town.

To open the evening was indie singer-songwriter Mahi, who is also the guitarist for Anuhea’s band. Accompanied by his own Fender strat and drummer Revelation, he did a few covers – including Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” and an original ballad called “Be Mine.” He engaged the crowd by cracking jokes and also getting the audience to sing along to some of the tunes.

After a brief break, Anuhea took to the stage with her band (Mahi, Revelation and a bassist), playing reggae-tinged original tunes. Among the highlights was “Big Deal,” the first of her tunes to catch the attention of radio stations in Hawaii, and “A Simple Love Song,” a recent single whose video was actually shot during her first appearance in New York.

Her band has great chemistry together, and feed off each other quite well. They had wonderful three and four-part harmonies on many of the tunes, and that made for a very enjoyable experience. While she played mostly original material, she included a cover of Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing” with an arrangement closer to her own style. To my personal delight she included the aforementioned “Forever Summer” with Mahi taking over Justin Young’s vocal parts. There was a joke around the recent Disney cartoon “Moana,” and the band played a snippet of “How Far I’ll Go” as part of it to great response.

The set was short but highly enjoyable – I hope I get another chance to hear her live again soon.